In truth, it doesn't go back a great deal. Just checking mine out now, it goes back about 30 degrees from vertical. If you're having doubts, do what you can to check out a unit in person before you make your purchase.

Edit: In contrast, the screen on my last laptop, an HP/Compaq, tilted back so it was level (well, parallel) with the keyboard. I think the hinge design on the Apple laptops are a lot more robust, though. They don't feel flimsy at all.

Edit 2: Okay, I managed to find a protractor... it's closer to 40 degrees. But still! Check it out for yourself.

I will be using only as a desktop and also to run gentoo linux on, through parrallels desktop (sp?) My question is, will parrallels run fine with no lag on a macbook with 2GB of ram, or a Macbook pro with 1GB.

I bought my first mac last week. Picked up a macbook pro 15.4 with the core 2 duo. Comming from pc has been a great experience. I am just wondering if this is too much macine. Thinking of returnig and picking up the macbook black core 2 duo. Has all the specs this system has minus the graphics. I am not gamer so don't think I will miss it that much. Guess I am looking for advice as well.

I bought my first mac last week. Picked up a macbook pro 15.4 with the core 2 duo. Comming from pc has been a great experience. I am just wondering if this is too much macine. Thinking of returnig and picking up the macbook black core 2 duo. Has all the specs this system has minus the graphics. I am not gamer so don't think I will miss it that much. Guess I am looking for advice as well.

If you're not a gamer... and don't mind the screen size, then it'll probably be the perfect fit for you.

The only thing that kept me from going with the Macbook were : the white one seems to get really dirty on the wrist area, and the black on get's that shiny worn out look going.

I will be using only as a desktop and also to run gentoo linux on, through parrallels desktop (sp?) My question is, will parrallels run fine with no lag on a macbook with 2GB of ram, or a Macbook pro with 1GB.

The low end macbook pro, or high end macbook?

I run XP through Parallels on my MBP with 1GB of RAM - 384MB for XP, 620MB for OS X. Funnily enough, XP runs great, but I notice a bit of lag with OS X. More RAM would be ideal (I don't use it enough to justify getting more RAM, tho), and depending on what else you might be doing it, the regular Macbook with 2GB is probably the way to go.

Well went back to the Apple Store this afternoon with my macbook pro all boxed up ready to return and pick up the macbook black core 2 duo. Once there I was fortunate enough to have the two machines sitting side by side. after about 2o minutes I walked back out with my macbook pro.

Deciding factors: My main reason for possibly returning was portability and batter life. The macbook pro is bigger but not by too much. My battery life has been pretty reasonable. I am getting between 3.5 and 4 hours with wifi and various other things going.

Other factors included the ability to upgrade more over the years to get more out of the machine where I would have been more limited on the macbook. Could not be happier this is my first mac and to be honest I do not see why I would ever go back to a pc. Thanks for the input everyone.

Well went back to the Apple Store this afternoon with my macbook pro all boxed up ready to return and pick up the macbook black core 2 duo. Once there I was fortunate enough to have the two machines sitting side by side. after about 2o minutes I walked back out with my macbook pro.

Deciding factors: My main reason for possibly returning was portability and batter life. The macbook pro is bigger but not by too much. My battery life has been pretty reasonable. I am getting between 3.5 and 4 hours with wifi and various other things going.

Other factors included the ability to upgrade more over the years to get more out of the machine where I would have been more limited on the macbook. Could not be happier this is my first mac and to be honest I do not see why I would ever go back to a pc. Thanks for the input everyone.

Battery life is really nice.. I just spent over 4.5 hours trying to drain the battery on my new MBP so that I could calibrate the battery. My other laptop.. 17" HP ZD8000 get's about 1.5hrs if I'm lucky...